Youth projects share £18m to divert children away from crime
Joe Lepper
Wednesday, December 1, 2021
Ten youth projects will share £18m to provide alternatives for young people at risk of committing crime.
The funding is being handed out by the Youth Endowment Fund and aims to support more than 7,300 children.
Projects will provide young people with alternatives to being arrested, convicted, and receiving a custodial sentence.
Among those targeted are young people who have already been arrested or those at risk of becoming involved in crime, based on concerns raised by youth workers, teachers, police and social workers.
Victims of crime who have been hospitalised due to a violent assault will also be a focus.
London’s Violence Reduction Unit has received the largest grant, of £6.72m. This funding will be used to train children’s professionals, including social workers and teachers, to provide cognitive behavioural therapy to children at risk of becoming involved in violence.
Meanwhile, youth charity and CYP Now 2021 Awards winner Redthread has received £2.1m to support young people in hospital who have been attacked or exploited. The University of Birmingham has been appointed to evaluate the charity’s project.
Redthread chief executive John Pyton said the funding will help the charity to empower “young people to break free from cycles of violence and reach their full potential”.
NHS Lancashire and South Cumbria NHS Foundation Trust is also among recipients. It has been handed £1.39m to provide therapy to children who are in police custody due to violence.
Today, we announced the projects we're funding through our diversion grant round.
— Youth Endowment Fund (@YouthEndowFund) November 29, 2021
We're investing almost £18 million in ten projects, which will support over 7,300 children and young people by giving them another chance.
Find out more: https://t.co/4EXGWuCjpl pic.twitter.com/7N4VdQRx1x
Elsewhere, Manchester based restorative justice charity REMEDI will use its £1.58m funding to provide mentors to children who have committed, or at risk of committing, violent crime.
Mentoring is also being provided through £990,000 in funding for the violence reduction network for Leicester, Leicestershire, and Rutland. This will support children involved in drug and alcohol abuse or with behaviour issues.
Other organisations to receive funding include Salford Foundation, United Borders, We Are With You, YES Outdoors and Nottinghamshire’s police and crime commissioner.
“It’s so important that, when things go wrong, children and young people are given another chance to turn their lives around,” said Youth Endowment Fund executive director Jon Yates.
“By working with these ten programmes and their evaluators, we have a unique chance to find out which kinds of support makes the greatest difference at these critical moments.”
He added that the result of the evaluation will be shared and the Fund will “advocate for more of the programmes that work”.
Separately, Surrey’s police and crime has handed CYP Now Awards 2021 winner Catch22 £100,000 to support young people at risk of or impacted by criminal exploitation in the county. This includes victims of ‘county lines’ drug distribution networks.
This funding will help develop the Catch22's Music To My Ears service, which uses film, photography and music to help divert children away from crime.
“Projects like this enable us to re-engage young people – by boosting their self-esteem and their confidence, young people are encouraged to express themselves and their experiences, all while supported by professionals in a one-to-one setting,” said Catch 22's assistant director Emma Norman.